Thursday, November 17th, 2022
The Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill
421 Wadsworth St, Middletown, CT 06457
Glendowlyn Thames
Public Policy & Economic Development, Amazon
Public Policy & Economic Development, Amazon
Glendowlyn “Glen” Thames joined Amazon’s Global Economic Development team, part of the company’s Public Policy organization, in November of 2021 as Head of Economic Development for the states of CT and NY. In this role Glen is responsible for delivering value and assistance to Amazon business verticals and its affiliates such as entry to market strategy, public-private partnerships, and expansion efforts to name a few. To date, Glen has played a pivotal role in Amazon’s expansion of its core fulfillment, last mile delivery, and other logistics facilities bringing multi-million-dollar investments and hundreds of jobs to communities throughout Connecticut and New York. In addition, in April of 2022, she led efforts to host Amazon’s first CT Supplier Diversity event, where hundreds of CT region small and diverse businesses attended.
Prior to joining Amazon, Glen led an intentional career in the public sector for over 15 years, both as a practitioner and elected official in Connecticut. More recently, Glen served as Deputy Commissioner, COO & CFO for the CT Department of Economic and Community Development. She was a key contributor in Governor Lamont’s COVID response, inclusive economic growth strategy, community and small business support programming, workforce development, and business recruitment, retention and expansion strategy. Also, formerly she was founding Executive Director of CTNext, LLC where she managed a full array of strategic economic development programs focused on fostering entrepreneurship, startup and growth stage businesses while cultivating a robust innovation-based ecosystem on behalf of the State of Connecticut. She has deep domain expertise in public policy, public finance, economic development, small business finance, corporate governance, and organizational leadership.
Glen received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Hofstra University and a Master of Arts in Public Policy & Law from Trinity College. She is the 2022 recipient of the CT Woman’s Business Development Council’s Impact Award and was honored in 2021 as one of the NAACP Most Influential Blacks in CT. In addition, she has served on many quasi-public and non-profit boards and was an elected member of the Hartford City Council from 2016-2020 serving as Council President.
Prior to joining Amazon, Glen led an intentional career in the public sector for over 15 years, both as a practitioner and elected official in Connecticut. More recently, Glen served as Deputy Commissioner, COO & CFO for the CT Department of Economic and Community Development. She was a key contributor in Governor Lamont’s COVID response, inclusive economic growth strategy, community and small business support programming, workforce development, and business recruitment, retention and expansion strategy. Also, formerly she was founding Executive Director of CTNext, LLC where she managed a full array of strategic economic development programs focused on fostering entrepreneurship, startup and growth stage businesses while cultivating a robust innovation-based ecosystem on behalf of the State of Connecticut. She has deep domain expertise in public policy, public finance, economic development, small business finance, corporate governance, and organizational leadership.
Glen received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Hofstra University and a Master of Arts in Public Policy & Law from Trinity College. She is the 2022 recipient of the CT Woman’s Business Development Council’s Impact Award and was honored in 2021 as one of the NAACP Most Influential Blacks in CT. In addition, she has served on many quasi-public and non-profit boards and was an elected member of the Hartford City Council from 2016-2020 serving as Council President.
